How Time Works
by DragonBlade152
Summary: My theory on how time works in the Pokemon universe.


OK, ready for some serious weirdness? This is my theory on how time works in the Pokémon universe. Note: this is a theory ONLY! If it doesn't make sense, that's OK. I have a hard time understanding it sometimes, too. All right, on with the weirdness!

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><p>(based off the 4th and 12th movies and Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Darkness)<p>

As far as I understand, time in the Pokémon universe acts much like the electrons of an atom, which always occupy the orbit which requires the least amount of energy. This would explain why Ash and company didn't get erased from existence after Arceus regained the Jewel of Life. When Arceus was nearly dead, it was impossible for Ash and company to exist. However, when Arceus did not die, Ash and company continued to exist. As any author can tell you, it is usually far easier to change details than to rewrite the entire story. It would be much simpler and easier to change the memories of those involved than to completely remake the future if most of it would, for all practical purposes, be the same. When the past is altered, it also seems to take some time for the changes to the future to take place. For example, in Explorers of Time and Darkness, (hereafter referred to as EoTaD) the player is not immediately erased from existence, but instead erased slowly, having enough time to say goodbye. Another example is when Ash pleads with Arceus to remember what happened. It takes Arceus a short time to remember. (The memory is also slightly staticy, but maybe that's just how Arceus's memory works.) Then why wasn't the memory of everyone else changed like Arceus's was? With Ash and company, it was their future selves going into the past (they weren't even around then). With Arceus, its past self was affected, not its future self, meaning that its memories would have to change. If I were to go into the past and slap you, I would remember going into the past and also the time when I did not slap you. You, however, would not remember the time when I did not slap you because it was your past self that was affected. Interestingly enough, at least in EoTaD, the player is not completely erased from existence, which implies that everything linked to the player, including memories, would cease to exist. Instead, the player is merely removed from the time line.

Another way to describe time is like a gigantic super-thick rubber band. It resists change and is very hard to manipulate. There are only two known Pokémon that have the power to manipulate this "rubber band of time," Dialga and Celebi. Dialga seems to mainly be able to transport others through time, such as with Ash and company, but not itself. Perhaps it is aware of the fact that if it went into the past and killed Palkia, it would cease to exist. The way Dialga might have brought the player "back to life" in EoTaD would have been to transport the player from the past, when the player was being erased from existence, into the future in such a way that the player still existed. Why, in the case of Arceus, didn't Dialga solve the problem by itself? Tweaking time that much would have taken much more energy than sending a group of people to the past, probably more energy than Dialga had. There was also the fact that Dialga was weakened by Arceus. It is possible that, as in the case of EoTaD, Dialga could have dragged Ash and company back through time, preventing them from being erased.

Celebi, on the other hand, seems to mainly transport itself, with or without passengers. In EoTaD, it is suggested that Celebi uses the "Passage of Time," a corridor spanning multiple dimensions. I am assuming this passage spans both time (the fourth dimension, if I remember correctly) and space. Otherwise, in EoTaD, the player and friends would have appeared at the place where they had first entered the passage, rather than at the beach. The "Passage of Time" could also be linked to certain places. For example, the player appears at the beach twice after using the passage and when Celebi transports Sammy and itself to Ash's time, they appear in front of a shrine even though they were nowhere near it in their own time.

Why do you see only the Celebi from Sammy's time and not the one from Ash's time? My theory is that time would not allow it. Since the "rubber band of time" doesn't like to be stretched more than it needs to be, it only allows multiple Celebi to be present in the same time period for only a short amount of time, such as when the past and/or future Celebi popped up and healed the Celebi from Sammy's time. The Celebi from Ash's time wasn't able to stay in its original time period because of the other Celebi entering that same time.


End file.
